


Lies are hidden truths

by cantodelcolibri



Series: Nothing More to Say (if you insist) [1]
Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Adult Content, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, IT DOESN'T HAPPEN THO I STG, M/M, One Shot Collection, Romance, Yama Country, if you could fucking call it romance ok those fuckin idiots, it'll progress ok the m rating's not there for shits and giggles, it's basically the progression of kurofai in between chapters, this is just me taking out my hatred of fics where fai gets molested
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-06 18:40:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3144518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cantodelcolibri/pseuds/cantodelcolibri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn't as if he were particularly linguistically challenged, and he did make an effort, but Kuro-pyon's (and this country's) language was so dramatically different from his own native tongue he simply wasn't inclined to be fluent. Whereas his language had music to it, a mess of vowels flowing together, Kuro-pi's was a balance of vowels and consonants. Very much like the man's temperament, if vowels were his soft side and consonants his constant yelling. No, that was a bad analogy, the consonants would have to outweigh the vowels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lie

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I'm real original starting with Shura. No defenses, no excuses.

_Yama_

* * *

 

As much as it pissed Kuro-pi off, it seemed like everyone in the warring country had an agreement that dawn was the appropriate time to get up and head to the training grounds. So it was almost always hard to find somewhere isolated they could spar without hurting anyone. At least, that's what Fai interpreted his grumpy companion's temper to be about. That, or the fact that Fai had somehow proven to be better than him with a bow and arrow. Maybe Kuro-woof was jealous. But really, what did he expect? Projectile spells worked in much the same way.

Point is that this morning Kuro-san was intent on seeing how well Fai would hold his own against a swordsman from up close if one were ever to get past the man himself. The occasion, of course, hadn't come up. So Fai really couldn't be blamed when fifteen minutes later he was sporting a fresh bump to the head given to him by Souhi's hilt. And he also couldn't be blamed for not understanding half of the orders being barked at him from his newly black-eyed companion.

Kuro-chi was not impressed, to say the least, and motioned for Fai to follow him back to their designated room in Yasha's palace. Yasha's army had swanky lodgings, but despite having proved they were both capable enough to become generals in the army, both had refused Yasha’s offer of separate rooms. Best to stick together, especially when one didn't speak the language.

It wasn't as if he were particularly linguistically challenged, and he did make an effort, but Kuro-pyon's (and this country's) language was so dramatically different from his own native tongue he simply wasn't inclined to be fluent. Whereas his language had music to it, a mess of vowels flowing together, Kuro-pi's was a balance of vowels and consonants. Very much like the man's temperament, if vowels were his soft side and consonants his constant yelling. No, that was a bad analogy, the consonants would have to outweigh the vowels. Either way, he didn't like it. If only they had landed somewhere he could speak his own language. But then his luck of the draw had never been lucky per se, and so here he was, making half-assed attempts to persuade Kurogane not to force any more pickles on him.

All Kuro-mean had to say about that was that if he was complaining about an empty stomach, he didn't have a right to complain about what food they were given. And no, _anko_ was not the only sweet they had in Nihon, but that was all they had here, so just shut the hell up already, damn it.

At least there was an option of sweet sake.

"No fun, Kuro-rin." At least that's what Fai thought he was saying. Tanoshikunai. Right? That was right, right? He pulled off his sweaty practice clothes and opted for the blue yukata someone had gifted him last month when they had been promoted. Kurogane raised an eyebrow at his choice but didn't say a word. He went for his own regular hakama, ignoring his own yukata folded besides where Fai's had been.

"Shut up." Ah, shut up. The first phrase he had learned to decipher since they landed in Yama. Kuro-sama had been repeating it almost as a mantra when Fai had realized they were stranded, no Mokona or kids and no way of understanding one another. So Fai had taken to babbling in anxiety, and hadn't stopped when they were surrounded by Yasha's men, with thoughts of Syaoran and Sakura having all these swords pointed at them too. Kuro-chan had picked up on him saying their names, and told him to be quiet. And then again. And again. So yeah, Fai knew what _'urusai'_ meant.

"I get hungry after practice, and you hit me...rough?"

"I hit you hard, yeah. So?"

"So I need...no. So you should...argh, no. Wait a moment, please." Fai said and scrunched his eyebrows in concentration. Four months of this so far. And still using Nihongo was frustrating. Kurogane huffed, but stayed silent. Patient. "So I want good food for hard work." Fai gave up on trying to remember the word for 'deserve'.

"You let me hit you. That's not hard work. 自業自得だよ。"

 _"Jigōjitokuda yo?"_ He copied the sounds, not knowing what they meant. Kuro-pi knew that tone, and Fai enjoyed to see his own brows knit together, trying to find a simpler way to make Fai understand.

"I give you...値するもの."

 _"Ataisuru mono?"_ Fai repeated.

 _"Ataisuru mono."_ Kurogane asserted.

"What I deserved was...to get hit?" Fai tried to show his understanding of the meaning.

Kuro-pon gave a gruff laugh. "You almost always deserve to get hit." He sat at the table and picked up his chopsticks and bowl of rice, He picked a pickled plum from a small bowl and waved it in Fai's face once he sat down as well.

"That's a lie." He pulled a face at the food being offered, but nodded down at his own bowl of rice, permitting Kuro-san to drop it. Fai's favorite word in this language was lie. _Uso._ It was nice to say it now in a reprimanding voice.

"It's not a lie. I don't lie. You lie. 嘘ばっかりついてるから、皆に総すかんを食うんだ。 And why I hit you." Kurogane said after gulping down some mackerel.

"Once more please?"

A sigh. "Which part?"

 _"Uso bakkari_ blah blah blah. I understood lie. But what else?" Fai reached for the only other food on the table he actually enjoyed besides the rice. The egg.

Kurogane opened his mouth to explain but stopped, seemed to think better of it, and closed his mouth. Fai still looked at him expectantly, knowing that for the sake of teaching him the language, Kuro-sama wouldn't deny him anything. It would just take him a moment.

"Kuro-pyon?"

"何でもない。"

"What?" Fai knew what _'nandemonai'_ meant. He had heard other people use it enough to grasp the meaning. But why would Kuro-kun say 'nevermind'? "Kuro-pi, tell me!"

"I said it was nothing. Now come on. Everyone said they wanted to meet at the festival." He finished eating, stood up, and made for the doors. Fai rushed after him.

They walked through the palace in silence. Well, mostly silence. Silence interrupted by the occasional-

"Kuro-chaaaaan?"

"No."

Then a few steps later-

"Kuro-samaaaa?"

"I said no, damn it!"

"But I want to learn what you said!" Fai insisted.

"Learn it from someone else then!" Kuro-meanie growled.

"Fine! I'll repeat it to Ogawa-san. He'll tell me in an easy way."

"You don't even remember what I said!" Kurogane grinned smugly down at him.

 _"Uso bakkari tsui terukara, mina ni sō su kan o kuunda."_ Fai repeated gleefully.

"You bastard! You pretended you didn't hear it!"

"You should know better than to....not believe...my...my....thought mind? Remember?"" Fai struggled again and exhaled heavily. "Nihongo is hard!"

"記憶。That's the word."

 _Kioku._ Save that one for later, Fai. They reached the palace gates and passed them, Fai waving cheerfully at the guards, Kurogane just nodding in acknowledgement. They passed vendors and gaggles of young ladies in yukatas far more flowery than Fai's who giggled as they passed.

"Hyuu~ those girls think you're handsome, Kuro-tan!" Fai grinned cheekily up at him.

"Where the hell did you learn the word handsome?!"

"Easy. Someone called you handsome at the first Moon Castle Festival, and they called me cute." Fai related the memory fondly. "Mokona would be very jealous."

"They called you cute?"

"The girls did. A man called me pretty, and I did not like his voice, so I...like cute more."

"Is that right?"

“He also had a rude face.”

“Where was I?”

“Buying grilled squid.”

Kurogane crossed his arms as they passed stall after stall, trying to remember. He gave up. “I would have hit him.”

“Awww, is Kuro-pyon being...caring about...no. Wait a moment, please.” This was happening too much. Teasing was hard with a language barrier. He chose to act it out instead, squealing in fright and scrambling to hide behind Kurogane from an imaginary foe. Then he grabbed Kuro-pon’s arm and began to battle said imaginary foe with an imaginary sword, then stopped and jumped back in front of him to say his earnest thanks.

Kuro-sama scoffed, but his eyes showed he had understood the strange display. Really, it was strange he let Fai make such a spectacle without any resistance. Maybe because the festival was so busy that no one was watching. “You don’t need 保護, mage.”

Fai just smiled at him, too widely to be sincere, and kept walking.

* * *

 

It was nearing evening, and they parted from their fellow soldiers to make a detour to a sweet bun stall before heading back to their room to change into their armor. They were walking side by side, Kurogane with a pork bun in his mouth, and Fai nibbling at his still-too-hot sweet bean paste one. It had been an educational day. Fai had learned how to say ‘pretty boy’ in Nihongo. Well, now he knew what some of the men cat-called to him. The other words, Kuro-sama still hadn’t wanted to teach him. He also learned how to say ‘asshole’ when Ogawa-san had overheard the _asshole_ and prompted to call him that. Kurogane had been talking to one of the other generals a few yards away, out of earshot. He also now knew what it was Kuro-sama had refused to repeat.

_You’re always lying, that’s why people don’t take you seriously._

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“Hey, Kuro-sama-” Fai meant to ask him what he had meant by those words, to find out how much he knew, when a dark haired girl ran into them.

“Oh! I’m so sorry! Please excuse me!”

Kurogane said something unintelligible and Fai smiled and said it was okay, then the girl bowed and kept running. And running. Fai watched as she ran straight into the arms of a young man in armor who caught her easily and lifted her into the air. He whispered something into her ear and she laughed loudly, called him ‘あなた’ and proceeded to tell him he’d be late if he kept playing around.

_Anata._

What did that mean? She hadn’t meant it rudely, her voice had been so sweet.

Fai turned to Kurogane and saw that he had also been looking at the couple. The pair of them hadn’t moved since the girl bumped into them.

“Anata.” Fai said, and shocked Kurogane out of his apparent reverie. His head turned swiftly to look down at Fai with a face that Fai was a bit scared of. He didn’t know what that face was. Pained? Nostalgic? But Fai kept the smile on his face, determined to seem clueless to the meaning he was beginning to garner.

“No.” Kurogane said, shaking his head and looking away. He spoke again gruffly as he began to walk again. “Not _anata._ Not me. Not you.”

“But what does it mean, Kuro-pi?” Fai called out after him after he let out a shuddering breath.

 _“Nandemonai.”_ was his only response.

* * *

 

An hour later, they were armor-clad, pulling at the reigns of their mounts as they gazed up at the floating castle that would take them away.

“Mage. Don’t let your guard down.”

“Mmmhmm”

“Remember to retrieve your own arrows.”

“Yes, Kuro-sama.”

"And remember, if the kid shows up-"

"We lie." Fai finished.


	2. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can't just promise a guy travel between worlds, and home as the final destination, then just land him with an insufferable magician on a world where there was a war being waged on a fucking floating castle for the sake of maybe getting a wish granted. But, here they were. Fighting for the chance to grant the king to whom they had recently sworn their allegiance his wish. What was his wish? Fuck if he knew. He just wanted to get back to the kids and get out of here. If Ashura's people were anything like Yasha's, the princess would be fine. But the kid would want to fight. Kurogane was counting on that. Praying, almost.

_His eyes would match his yukata, if Yama hadn't turned his eyes black._ Kurogane thinks out of the blue, and very nearly punches his own head for the offensive thought.

Well, at least it was late in coming. The magician was currently taking off the yukata in favor of the armor they had to don three nights a month. Kurogane let his gaze linger for a moment longer, then looked away. He wondered if they would finally see the kid tonight. It had already been what, four months? Yama was getting old. Same old opponents again and again month after month. He was beginning to think they would be stuck there indefinitely, that maybe the pork bun had spat them out prematurely by years. Years. He was going stir-crazy.

You can't just promise a guy travel between worlds, and home as the final destination, then just land him with an insufferable magician on a world where there was a war being waged on a fucking floating castle for the sake of maybe getting a wish granted. But, here they were. Fighting for the chance to grant the king to whom they had recently sworn their allegiance his wish. What was his wish? Fuck if he knew. He just wanted to get back to the kids and get out of here. If Ashura's people were anything like Yasha's, the princess would be fine. But the kid would want to fight. Kurogane was counting on that. Praying, almost.

"Kuro-pi?" He heard the mage's inquisitive tone of voice and realized he had been chattering the whole time, and expected him to answer his question. He turned around to look at those once blue eyes.

"What?"

"You were not listening." It wasn't even a question. The magician usually smiled and didn't seem bothered whenever Kurogane ignored him, as it happened often. But now he just looked a bit worried, behind the smile. Kurogane was getting better at reading those fake-ass stupid smiles. 

"No, I wasn't." He asserted plainly. The other man exhaled heavily. Was that frustration? Maybe the question was language related. Kurogane proceeded to put on his boots.

"Why do you...kill not? The people we fight. On the Moon Castle?"

"Those idiots aren't good enough for me to kill." Kurogane answered quickly. Shit. Even he could admit that the defensiveness in his voice was obvious. Boots on, he grabbed Souhi and belted her to his hip.

"I did not understand all. But Kuro-pu is lying. I know."

"Shut up."

"No. I want to learn." Persistent bastard.

"You want to know, not learn. It's none of your business."

"Business?" Apparently he hadn't learnt that word yet.

"I am not going to tell you, so shut up about it already." He noticed Fai was having trouble doing up the lacing on his armguard with one hand -as always- and moved to help him.

"You’re always lying, that’s why people don’t take you seriously." The magician declared loudly to the room at large.

That made him stop. The fingers that were deftly lacing paused and stood still.

"You do not...take me seriously. So you tell me 'none of your business'. You do not...what is the word? Believe? No. Different word. What is it?" He went on. Quieter.

Should he answer? Admit he doesn't trust the mage? The kid and the princess, maybe. They never lied. But Fai? His only completely honest moment with him had been when he had admitted that he had always wished for someone to rescue him, to take him away. But Kurogane remembered the look on the man's face when he had realized he had let something true about himself slip. And the smile that had followed. No, he didn't trust him. His motherly facade towards the kids, he could trust. To get them out of sticky situations with his smooth acting and quick tongue, he trusted. To lie and smile while doing it, he could trust.

"Trust. That is the word." He settled on just answering that.

"Trust." Fai copied. "You do not trust me?"

"Should I?"

His only response was that damn smile. He hated it. He hated that smile and he hated that man.

"I trust you to protect the children. I trust you to have my back when we fight. I trust you to lie." His voice had dropped to a growl. "I do not trust you with the truth."

"Awww Kuro-sama! Why are you so mean? I never lie!" The mage turned his wrist, and entwined his fingers with Kurogane's, who had yet to move his hands from the armguard he had finished tying. Fai brought their linked hands to eye-level, studying them as if they were fascinating.

"You're lying right now!" Kurogane yelled and tried to yank his hand away, but Fai held on tightly, smiling all the way. Kurogane brought his other hand to grab the man's wrist and pry their hands apart by force. He won, but he kept his hand on that wrist, glaring the smiling man down.

Fai went on to lean in close, head tilted up, close enough to feel his breath on his neck. "You should trust me not to lie about what I want." His tone a sing-song. Taunting, perfect grammar. Bastard.

"Mage." A warning. He did his best to sound as menacing as possible, crushing his wrist enough to bruise, not to break.

"That is not my name. My name is Fai." Now it was his other hand grazing the hairs on the nape of his neck softly.

"That you are a mage is the only thing I know is not a lie about you."

A soft laugh, and the mage stepped back, pulling away far enough so that Kurogane released the grip he had on him.

"It's okay. You are right, I will protect Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun. Mokona too. And you." His eyes were bright, twinkling as if this were just a game to him. And Kurogane saw through it, he knew that the mage was trying to egg him on, to keep his thoughts away from the signs he was beginning to notice as hidden something in the other's face. Kurogane wished he could wring his neck. But no, the princess would cry and the kid would be upset. The pork-bun would be unbearable.

"I believe that."

* * *

 

Lie. They agreed on lying. But it didn't come to that. It was the third night on the fourth month and no sign of the kid.

It was only a few minutes until daybreak. Kurogane was particularly tired, as Ashura's army had tried to defeat him and the mage the same way three nights in a row. In waves. Endless waves of soldiers and it was getting harder and harder for Kurogane to measure his strength, keep Souhi from cutting too deep, and to keep an eye on the man who had lost his mount hours prior and was shooting from the ground behind him. Ashura had finally realized that Kurogane was unwilling to actually land a deathblow, and sent his generals to find a way to subdue him. What makes a soldier more willing to fight than the promise that they won't die?

The magician was quiet during these battles, unlike any battles they had been in before this world. Part of it was because he had gained a reputation as the silent killer, a beautiful death, as was whispered among the enemy soldiers whenever they had the upper hand on a wave and managed to advance instead of simply holding their ground. He was vain, and proud, and took down his targets with a simple grace and a smile on his face. Beautiful death indeed.

Except he himself seldom delivered a shot to the heart or the head. More often he chose to incapacitate his victims, much like Kurogane himself. The ninja snorted. Who was the mage to ask him why he didn't kill when he did exactly the same?

They had indeed been pressed far back, almost to Yasha himself, and were struggling to keep the more pesky assassins (that's what a few of the soldiers were. The more skilled ones didn't fight: they hung back waiting for an opening to get past them and reach Yasha) at bay.

A few more minutes. A few more minutes might decide the battle.

But Kurogane didn't notice that an assassin had gotten past him until it was too late. Yasha gave a cry of alarm and Kurogane ran to him, Souhi raised, ready to lop off the bastard's head.

When he realized the implications of his thought, he paused ever so slightly, but his sword was still in motion; aiming at the neck. In the heat of battle and in the panic that they might lose, he forgot himself. Growing horror clenched at his gut, and it was as if he were no longer in control of himself. He couldn't stop his hand. Kurogane barely registered it when he saw a flash from the corner of his eye and suddenly there was an arrow lodged in the back of the head of the assassin. The man was dead before Souhi had a chance to bite flesh. His head flew anyway, showering Kurogane’s face in blood. Yasha looked alarmed, but he nodded at Kurogane thankfully and nodded at someone behind him. Kurogane turned to follow the King's gaze.

Fai nodded back, ever present smile slightly strained. But that didn't stop him from embedding an arrow into the spine of a soldier who seemed to be trying to sneak past Kurogane again, while he was distracted.

That man fell dead as well.

That arrow had no chance to reach the man's head before Souhi did. The magician had used magic to kill the man himself. He had committed a double sin, doing two things he hadn't before.

But daybreak broke the horizon before Kurogane finished his train of thought, and they were whisked away to Yama.

* * *

 

"Magician."

He could barely make out the mop of blonde hair peeking out from under the covers. It was usual for troops to count the dead and wounded before going home and shutting their blinds from the rays of sun. Sleeping all day after the three nights was normal. But the mage had always stayed behind later than most to help get everyone back on their feet. This time, they had landed back on solid ground and he had all but run back to the palace and to their room. Kurogane was obliged to do both his and the other man's regular work before heading up himself. It had taken him until a bit past noon.

"Mage."

He knew he was awake. That breathing was far too quick, and Kurogane had a sneaking suspicion that the slender frame hidden under the blankets was trembling.

"Oi. Don't make me have to pull you out."

Still no response.

A sigh. "Fai."

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No acknowledgment. Well, he was listening, Kurogane knew that much.

He still let the silence stretch on as he gathered his thoughts.

Finally, he cleared his throat. "The pork bun hates violence. She doesn't like it when anyone gets hurt. Neither does the princess. The kid and I, we like to fight, to protect. You? I don't know why you fight, but you don't do it with much passion. And I know you get no satisfaction from hurting others, you don't do offense."

His breathing had calmed. Kurogane took it as a good sign and spoke quickly.

"So I know you don't like killing, even though you're fully capable. You killed back there, not to protect Yasha, but because you knew I could not and I was about to. I did not trust you, but you did what you did regardless of that. You killed someone using magic. I saw the light, and that arrow moved too fast. I don't know what kind of magic you use; what you did may have been horrible for you. But...thank you."

There were cicadas singing outside. Kurogane felt his face burning and he was not entirely sure why.

"You're talk too fast."

He felt his breath catch when Fai emerged from his nest of bedclothes, robe slipping off one delicate shoulder, golden hair set aglow by the bit of sunshine streaming through the blinds. There was blood staining that hair, and smeared across his cheek. Not a wound in sight, it wasn't his own. His eyes weren't red or puffy when he met his gaze, as Kurogane had half expected. But the smile was gone.

"My magic is for fight. I....did it before. All I know is fight...how to...? How to fight. Not good magic. Not....healthy? So yes, horrible. But not new."

So his prowess was stunted whenever upset. Good to know.

"Kuro-sama cannot kill. I know this. Yasha knows, now Ashura too. So they try to make us tired. But now Ashura knows I can kill. We will be okay."

"You didn't have to-"

"Yes I did."

Pale. Gods he was so pale. And thin and infuriating and ethereal. A fox spirit came to mind, with its lies and its magic and beauty and trickery. If there was a Fai in his world, he would be a fox spirit. He didn't know how long he stared, the seconds may as well have been hours. Fai just looked up at him, no trace of a smile, eyes void of emotion, and spoke in his own tongue.

Maybe it was a confession. An explanation for his behavior. The story of why the only magic he used was for fighting. Or maybe he was just calling him names to his face and internally relishing Kurogane's lack of reaction.

It didn’t matter. Fai kept talking and didn’t stop when Kurogane moved to lie on his own bed across the room. He listened quietly until falling asleep to the musical tone of the other man’s voice.

* * *

 

When Kurogane woke up the mage was gone.

The moonlight lit their room in a soft silver light, the cicadas had begun to sing again. Again? Noisy bastards never shut up in the first place, it was a wonder that Kurogane had been able to fall asleep at all. If it hadn’t been for the mage’s melodic voice-

_Oh yeah._

He wondered how much of his awkward gratitude he had understood. It’s not like he spoke quickly on accident. Groaning and bringing a hand to his forehead to push back the strands of hair that had made themselves at home over his eyes, he squinted, trying to find evidence of where the man had gone.

While Kurogane’s armor and battle gear was neatly folded and piled in his chest, the magician’s were strewn about the floor. It trailed from the door to his bed, exactly how it had been when Kurogane had found him. The bed was messy, and that was unlike him. Usually, Fai made a point to keep their living areas clean.

His towel was missing, though. So he had gone to the bathhouse to scrub off the blood he had fallen asleep caked in. His bedclothes would need washing, then. But Kurogane scoffed, knowing that the mage wouldn't get that done by tonight, so he stood up to do it himself.

Well, he would go so far as leaving it out for the maids. Perks of being a general.

He had bathed in the morning, so he didn't take anything with him on his way out to search him out. Usually they went together, but after what had happened before nightfall the first night of the full moon three days ago made Kurogane almost glad for the interim in their custom.

* * *

 

That infuriating magician hadn’t been in the ridiculously full palace bathhouse, as it was filled with the soldiers of lower standing who hadn’t gotten their turn until now. Finding him was becoming too tedious. If he wasn’t there, then Kurogane knew he would be in the bathhouse closest to the palace, but still available to the general public. But it was late, and he knew it would be empty. A lot of the King’s men liked themselves too important to venture outside the castle for something as simple as a bath when marble beat simple wood by a large margin.

The streets were empty. When they had first arrived, Kurogane had been surprised that the festival was held before the full moon instead of after. It seemed logical, to hold a festival after a victory. But it soon became evident that there was no victory, and the people much preferred for things to be quiet when mourning their dead, tending their wounded, and resting up for the next full moon.

There were noises coming from the bathhouse. He entered through the main doors, glanced over the sleeping owner, and headed towards the men’s section. As he walked along the hall toward the doors, Kurogane heard a bright, beautiful laugh. He knew that laugh. It was sharp like Souhi’s blade, the laugh the magician gave whenever he was mad and didn’t want to show it.

“You think you’re scaring me?” Came Fai’s voice from the other side of the wall, followed by a thud, like a body being pushed into a wall. “You’re drunk, and stupid. I am not scared.”

“Well, pretty boy, there’s only one of you and four of us. No matter how strong you are to have risen ranks like you have, being the King’s fodder isn’t going to help you now. I know you’re scared, I like ‘em scared, and I like you.”

Kurogane’s blood ran cold right before it boiled over. He was about to run full pelt to the doors but stopped when Fai’s voice rang out, clear, directly parallel to where he stood.

“I don’t like you.” his tone very calm.

There was a chorus of laughter following those words.

“Gorgeous, I don’t fucking care if you don’t like me. We’re still going to do whatever the hell we feel like doing to you. And don’t even try screaming for help. I drugged the guy out front when we followed you in here. So you can make all the pretty sounds you want, no one is coming to help.”

There was a sound, like multiple feet moving forward, followed by a wet slap.

“Do not touch me.” This was snarled.

More laughter. Kurogane would laugh too, if he weren't so mad. He knew he could go in and this would end all the quicker, but the mage’s voice made one thing very clear: these fucking spawns of demons were about to get very, _very_ hurt.

Another slap. Then there was a considerably louder thud, and Kurogane smirked, knowing the bastard that had dared to slap him had ended up on the floor. A pained moan proved him right. Then hell broke loose in there, because all that Kurogane could hear over the sound of punches and kicks were the startled and angry yelps of the men that thought the delicate looking man would be easy pickings.

When things quieted down, Fai called out, “Kuro-pi, when you enter, don’t look. I am naked.” When had he learned the word ‘naked’?

“Suddenly you’re modest?” Kurogane answered, finally wrenching open the door and disregarding what he said entirely, eyes raking over the carnage before him. The four disgusting pieces of shit were whining, obviously unhappy with the turn of events.

Fai was naked alright, but he was facing the other way, so really the only thing he could see that could be considered obscene was his ass. The magician turned his head, pouting at him.

“Kuro-sama! I said don’t look!”

“Oh shut up.” He reached out and grabbed the blue robe he saw hanging by the door and made his way towards the mage. He would have stepped over the men if he were feeling calmer, but he was vindictive, and he made sure to kick as many of them as he could along the way. It did little to quell his bloodlust.

“This is the second time this has happened, you idiot. You should be more careful.” He shoved the robe into Fai’s hands, pointedly only looking at his face.

“You weren’t even there the first time!” he exclaimed, accepting the robe and shrugging it on. His cheek was red, no doubt from being slapped. His wet hair clung to his face, it almost looked brown.

“It doesn’t matter, asshole. You could have been hurt.”

Fai stared at him, blue eyes wide in surprise. Drops of water stuck to his eyelashes. His lips curled into a mischievous smile.

“Kuro-chan! Were you... thinking...about...no. Umm...think. But bad think? About I’m not okay?”

_Were you worried about me?_

Kurogane gestured wildly at the bodies littered around them.

“Does it look like I had any reason to worry?!” he yelled angrily, trying to hide the blush he felt creeping up his neck.

“Worry!” Fai laughed, still too loud and bright to be sincere. “Kuro-pyon was worried about me!” He continued to babble, but Kurogane cut him off.

“Shut up! Let’s go home.”

* * *

 

Kurogane realized as they were walking that Fai was tense, hugging himself, glancing this way and that.

Well, he hadn’t asked before because he knew that the mage would brush him off, but now he wasn’t going to hold his tongue.

“Mage.”

“Mmmm?”

Fully knowing the answer he was going to get, he asked anyway. “...Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

Just as expected.

“Are you telling the truth?”

No answer.

“From now on, I promise I won’t leave you alone. That won’t ever happen again.” Kurogane said. Fai looked up at him.

“Promise?” his tone of voice said he didn’t understand.

They had arrived at their door. Kurogane wrenched it open and waited for Fai to step through before going in himself and locking them in.

“It means I’m really not lying. I tell the truth remember? Not like your dishonest ass.”

“But I did not need Kuro-tan to help. I can alone.” Fai said, in sing-song. As if what had just happened was a joke. No big deal.

Oh, that made him fucking mad.

“Listen you thick-headed bastard, I know you’re strong, okay? I know that you could fight off ten men by yourself, easy. But that doesn’t mean what just happened is okay! You know what you look like, you know what they think of you, and you know that no one would ever try that if you hadn’t been alone! So I’m not going to let you be alone again, and that is not going to happen again!”

Again, Kurogane expected teary eyes, a shaky voice, a feminine reaction. Again, Kurogane was reminded that the man in front of him was just as stubborn and proud as he was.

“...You should tell me what those words mean. If you really don’t want this to happen again.” Fai said, tone flat, cold.

“What?” he asked blankly, thrown off his angry tirade.

“The words those men yell at me in the streets. I ask you what they say and you say ‘it’s nothing’. If you told me, I know what men are bad and good.”

Whore, slut, bitch, pretty boy, twink, girly, ‘your mouth would look pretty around my cock, gorgeous’, the list was endlessly uncreative.

“They’re words that mean they think you’re...you’re…the same as a woman?” Fuck. How do you explain that?

“Pretty boy. Boy, not girl.” Fai snapped at him.

“Yes, boy.” Kurogane sighed and sat on his bed. So he had understood all along. Fai remained standing in front of him. Not really glaring, but his gaze wasn’t soft either. “I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

The gaze softened.

“Thank you.”

_He is not a woman. He is not a woman. He is not a woman, so stop looking at him like he is one, stop assuming he’s going to break._

Then Kurogane found the one flaw in his inner turmoil as Fai met his eyes and Kurogane didn’t look away. He didn’t think women were weak. Anyone would be upset about almost being molested. His unease about Fai’s calmness did not stem from what had just happened, although it was a huge factor. It stemmed from the fact that Fai was not a woman and something in Kurogane’s subconscious was dead set on viewing him as one.

Bathed in moonlight, hair still dripping wet, draped only in a thin robe that was tied so loosely his pale chest was on display, the man standing in front of him was undeniably beautiful. Only a blind idiot would deny the fucking bastard was beautiful. But it wasn't a soft beauty, promising safety and warmth and everything Kurogane had come to associate with the feminine. He was clear, bright, dangerous. Even as soft as he looked, as innocent as the moonlight made him seem, Kurogane had seen how quickly this man could kill, and how quickly he could get over the remorse. _A beautiful death_ , they called him. But still, beautiful.

It was an aggravating discovery, to say the very least.

_Fox spirit._

“Fox spirit.”

“What?”

Crap. Did he say that out loud?

“Nothing. Go to sleep. I have to think about what to say when those men are found in the morning.”

The mage smiled, and disappeared to his side of the room without another word.

There was still no sign of the kids or the pork bun. There was no time to entertain this line of thought, if they were to be stuck here together for much longer. So, Kurogane decided his thoughts were the result of too little sleep. So he shook them off, wrote them off as him being delusional, and went to sleep himself despite having recently woken up.

He dreamt of silver foxes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My headcanon is that Yama turned their eyes black as a sort of illusion. I mean, having the eyes of an entire army be black sounds to me like a spell not a genetic trait. Thus why Fai can still use magic. His eyes are still blue. They just appear black.


End file.
